In My Daughter's Eyes
by Lelila Solo
Summary: A tender moment between Arizona and her daughter.


A/N: _A tender moment between Arizona and her daughter in the middle of the night._

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><p>A soft cry woke Arizona. Sleepily, she tried to blink the haze out of her eyes. Turning over, she saw Callie asleep soundly beside her. Arizona had missed her coming in from work. She leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Callie's cheek before another cry brought her attention around to the baby monitor sitting on her nightstand. Sofia's little face glowed on the screen and Arizona sighed. Pulling back the comforter, she slid out of bed without disturbing her sleeping wife. She turned down the monitor before leaving the room.<p>

Reaching the stove, she began warming water while she fought to clear the sleep out of her head. This was one of the reasons why she had not wanted kids. The endless exhaustion that came from a baby who didn't sleep through the night was something that she could have lived her entire life without. Granted, Callie had been the one who usually got up because Sofia was usually hungry. But Callie was back at work and Sofia had been introduced to the bottle since two of her three parents could not breast feed. Callie had been pulling double duty between work and the baby, so Arizona felt it only fair for her to get some sleep this time. Leaving the water to slowly warm up, she cracked the nursery door and quietly slipped inside.

She couldn't help but smile when she saw Sofia's tiny fists flailing around and she cried out for attention. "Hey big girl," Arizona whispered. Reaching down, she gently pulled back the little sheet and picked Sofia up. Cradling her in her arms, she began rocking her gently, instinctually. She had fallen in love with her daughter the moment they had seen the heartbeat on the monitor in Lucy's exam room. Sofia flailed her arms again. Arizona laughed and nuzzled her with her nose. "Is someone hungry?"

Tiny fingers brushed against her face and Arizona pressed her cheek into them. Sofia gurgled in her baby voice and Arizona couldn't stop her smile from growing. She slipped out to the kitchen and sat a bottle in the water for it to warm up. While she was preoccupied with the bottle, Sofia had wrapped her chubby little fist in Arizona's blonde hair. "Oww, oww," Arizona whispered as she tried to disentangle herself. "I see your mom won't have to teach you how to play dirty on the playground."

Bringing her fingers up to Sofia's round little cheeks, she tickled her under her chin until Sofia wrapped a hand around her ring finger. Her newly adorned ring finger, "My daughter, my family. Don't you ever think mom didn't want you," she said softly. "You're going to hear stories when you get older. Don't believe them. I've always wanted you darling. I remember, I remember when you were born. We almost lost you and mommy. And they couldn't find your heartbeat. But I did. I wasn't going to lose you."

Sofia cried out. Arizona soothed her gently and pulled the bottle out of the water. She wiped it carefully with one hand before picking it up and positioning it at the right angle. Sofia reached out greedily and Arizona smiled sweetly at her small sucking sounds. "I bet you miss mommy now that she's back at work, huh?"

She drank hungrily but never took her eyes off of Arizona's face.

"I guess that just means I get you more to myself," Arizona said. As she walked them back to the nursery she felt tears coming on and she didn't know why. "Your mom is so happy, baby."

She turned on a gentle lullaby and began rocking in the rocking chair. It had been a long time since Arizona had really looked at a baby. Sofia didn't judge anyone. She didn't know that she was supposed to. The unconditional love that always rested in those sleepy eyes sometimes amazed Arizona. Everything was suddenly so simple as she watched Sofia. She and Callie had been through such a long journey. When she had come back from Africa and begged Callie for a second chance only to find out that Callie was pregnant, she really thought that she might have quit and walked away for good. But that heartbeat on the monitor had erased her doubts. And holding Sofia was the most beautiful thing in the world.

The first time she had held Sofia, really held her, everything had become clear. Truly, none of the rest of it mattered. When she didn't know if she believed in anything anymore, she saw the light in Sofia's eyes and knew what life meant. Sofia had fought for life the way Arizona had fought for her family; always giving more when she felt like she had nothing left. She found the faith to hang on even when she felt like giving up. Sofia put a smile on her face at her worst moments. She had to be there for her daughter.

"I can't believe that I almost gave this up," she said, placing the bottle on the table when Sofia pushed it away sleepily. "You are all my dreams come true." Propping the little girl up on her shoulder and patting her back, she encouraged her to burp. "Come on, baby, so you can go back to sleep and not be grumpy in the morning for mommy."

She could see the future, little glimpses of how their lives would be as Sofia grew up.

_A little girl with dark pigtails and olive skin ran off the bus and launched herself into Arizona's arms. "Mom! Mom! Guess what I did at school!"_

_Picking her up, Arizona laughed. "What did you do?"_

_The little girl brandished a finger painting. "We had to paint our family. You, and mommy, and daddy, and me," the little girl pointed to each of the rough stick figures before beaming at Arizona with a proud smile._

_"Very beautiful," Arizona said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. A small giggle escaped the girl's lips before she turned her head. "Mommy!"_

_Arizona held her ear as she let Sofia climb down from her arms and run to Callie. She watched fondly as both of her girls smiled and laughed as Sofia showed her other mom the picture that she had painted at school. "You picked up your mom's artistic talents I see," Callie said, winking at Arizona._

Arizona looked down sweetly and laid her head against Sofia's. The little girl was falling asleep on her shoulder. The smell of her baby skin filled Arizona's nose and she didn't want Sofia to ever change.

_An eight year old was getting underfoot as she helped her mommy in the kitchen. She had inherited Callie's natural talent for cooking and she always wanted to help. Arizona had gotten her an apron that matched Callie's for her birthday and she wore it all the time. Arizona watched them both, a smile playing across her face. Their matching hair tumbled down their backs; Sofia's only a small degree lighter than Callie's nearly black tresses. Sofia danced in the chair that she was standing on and Callie put a hand on her shoulder to still her. They were whispering in hushed Spanish and Arizona caught the mischievous glance that was thrown in her direction. She was certain that a joke had just been made at her expense. Arizona always stayed far away from the kitchen._

"You know baby," Arizona said, shifting Sofia so that the little girl was again cradled in her arms. "I never thought that I wanted kids. Your mommy and I broke up because of it. I left her in an airport, of all places, and I went to Africa. But I came back because I couldn't handle living without your mom. When she told me she was going to have you, I didn't know that I was going to do. I didn't think that I could…" tears pooled in her eyes. "But then I almost lost you and mommy. I'm so sorry I caused that accident; I almost lost the two most important things in the world to me.

"You didn't have a heartbeat, but I found it. I found your heartbeat," the tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I didn't save you, Sofia. You saved me. Your mommy might think you were sent for her, but this will be our little secret. You were sent to rescue me. I was drowning. With your mommy, with your daddy, with my job. But all I have to do is look at you and everything is perfect again. You make me smile. All my dreams are in your eyes, big girl."

Arizona smiled as Sofia turned in her arms.

"You're going to grow up so happy. And when you're all grown up and you leave for college, we'll be shooing you out the door. But the second that door is closed we're all going to cry. Don't tell your mommy or your daddy, but I'm going to cry the hardest. My girl, my little angel will be all grown up. And you're going to find someone who makes you as happy as your mommy makes me. And then you'll have these little miracles of your own running around, and you'll know what I mean."

Sofia yawned and Arizona smiled. She kept rocking, not ready to give up her moment yet. "I love you so much, big girl. I hope you'll always know how happy you make me."

"Don't ever grow up, my daughter."


End file.
